Puddles
by XxBloodsbanexX
Summary: She cursed the rain for driving her here. She cursed the bus for being so late. She cursed Cartmen for being so absolutely insufferable. But most of all, Wendy cursed the stupid tree for being so stupid. Candy One-shot. Rated T for language.


**This is the first of a few One-shots I'll probably (maybe) be writing once I'm done with my HTF fiction. I wrote this not too long ago, with the idea coming to me during school, and I ended up writing it all in my notebook (It took like eight, maybe ten pages). I mostly did it because I found out I have a thing with writing stories that take place when it's raining. I just write faster, for some reason, I guess it's something to do with my style.**

**Sorry to bore you with the details, my friends. Anyways, my first South Park. I didn't expect CartmanXWendy to be my first fic with this cartoon, but I decided theirs would be best to start out with, while they're children. I don't own anything besides the plot.**

**I hope you all enjoy. Please review, and tell me what you think.**

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-Puddles-

Wendy was glaring straight ahead, eyes locked on the tree on the opposite side of the road. It wasn't very remarkable tree. She wished that it had some interesting blemishes or maybe a squirrel waving through its branches. At least then staring at it wouldn't be so dull. But Wendy was stubborn. She kept her eyes directed steadfastly at the boring, quite-ordinary tree. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice; above her were only grey clouds - clouds which continued to drop annoyingly thin and hardly visible droplets of rain.

It was the same rain that was responsible for her actual bus stop being flooded. The same rain that forced her to walk two more blocks to get to the next stop, and forced her to stare at the stupid, boring tree and _only _the stupid, boring tree.

She could hear his heavy footfalls even with the distance between them, his large and obnoxiously bright yellow rain boots stomping in every puddle he met in his path. If Wendy had been looking, she might have been able to see the rare look of childish joy on Eric's face as he trudged closer. But Wendy wasn't looking. She refused to look. Because Wendy knew that the second she allowed to earn any of her attention, her morning would take a turn for the absolute worst.

Wendy hated Cartman, she really did. Ever since the fight they had at school over his insensitivity to breast cancer, Wendy had hardly been able to think of him as a real person anymore. He was more like a walking hunk of lard with a rotten disposition that just so happened to have legs. And ever since last week, when Wendy had caught him in the act of spiking Kyle's lunch, he'd been at her heels like an angry chihuahua. Wendy knew he'd never forgive her for telling. Principal Victoria had called his _mom_, and according to Stan, had been grounded for the next month.

It was needless to say that Wendy'd written her name down on Cartman's hit-list. But despite all this, she was keeping her cool. Wendy figured if she just ignored Cartman's antics he would eventually get bored or at least distracted at some opportunity on ruining Kyle's life instead. Then they could both get on with their lives. Unfortunately for Wendy, had always been a _painfully _persistent child.

"Eh! Whadd'r'ya doin' at my bus stop?" had finally made it to the stop, and he crossed his arms as Wendy continued to glare at the tree.

"Hey! Didn't I ask you a question?"

Just keep staring, Wendy told herself. Pretend he's just a fat strawberry.

"God Wendy, don't be such a bitch."

Tune him out. Think about how stupid the tree is. Stupid tree. And where's the bus? Wendy wanted to check her watch but knew any movement would break her intense cold-shoulder-ing.

"Wendy? _Wendy!"_

He was nearly screeching now. Wait, no, _it_ was screeching. The giant strawberry - why was it getting so upset anyway?

"Dammit Wendy! Don't ignore me you ho!" If Wendy had allowed herself to look up, she would have seen the redness of Cartman's pudgy face brighten to a shade that rivaled his jacket, which was just visible beneath the neckline of his wet raincoat. The boy huffed, stuck out his tongue and blew Wendy a raspberry before grunting and glaring straight ahead at the same tree.

If trees had feet, this tree would have shifted on them uncomfortably. But trees could not shift their feet, so this tree settled on rustling its leaves uneasily under the glares of the two children.

A few, quiet minutes passed. Wendy watched as raindrops made the road before them glisten. She looked to the side, towards but past him, down the road. Where _was _the bus? It was never this late.

Just when Wendy was beginning to relax, just when she was allowing herself to hope against all hope that had gotten bored of trying to bug her, she heard a growl and a splash. Next thing she knew, the raven-haired girl was half soaked with water. Wendy's eyes fluttered open and closed, mouth agape, as she raised her hands to wipe away the dirty water. As if the rain hadn't been enough!

Cartman's stomach jiggled as he laughed. His stubby finger pointed at Wendy as the girl turned to glare at him. "Ha ha! Who's the wet little bitch! Teach you to ignore me, you stupid ho! Ha ha!"

Before Wendy knew what she was doing, a powerful, childish urge overtook her. It bubbled in her stomach, turned to steam and rose into her throat, turning her eyes red. She clenched her fists, ground her teeth and didn't notice when had stopped. He'd seen the girl's reaction and for once thought it wise to take a tiny step back.

Wendy snarled. Faster than she could think, Wendy pulled her leg back and expertly kicked a great deal of water from a puddle into Cartman's wide-eyed face.

As he began to sputter, growling profanity beneath his breath, Wendy took a deep breath. She huffed, wiping her face and eyes, pushing wet strands of her hair behind her ear. For a second she felt almost like crying. She was just so _angry. _Angry at the rain for driving her here; angry at the bus for being so damn late. She was angry at Cartman for being a complete douche, herself for losing her tempter and acting so childish, and most of all she was angry at the stupid tree for being so unhelpful.

Wendy sniffled. A car drove by, and its wheels tore through the huge puddles on the street; a cascading sheet of water flew at both Wendy and Cartman. Both children gasped as the water befell them. It was cold and smelled like grit and oil. Wendy only sighed, her anger slowly melting away into irritation and a strange sense of betrayal. Cartman, on the other hand, seemed to have a problem. "Dammit! Watch where you're driving, you fuckin' douchebag!"

Wendy rolled her eyes and looked at Cartman, ready to tell him that shouting after the car wouldn't solve anything when another car came along.

Today _really _wasn't going her way today, was it?

Wendy couldn't help but stomp her foot in aggravation and Cartman started another round of cursing. She listened to the car's tires shred through more puddles as it drove off.

Rain continued to fall, and Wendy sighed, pulling her long hair over her shoulder and trying to wring out the dirty water. Maybe she should have pushed her mom into just driving her to school.

"God dammit! This is all your fault you stupid bitch! I always knew you were bad luck!" shouted, jabbing an accusing finger in her direction. The girl only rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Cartman, get over-" Wendy looked up, but seeing Cartman's condition, snorted rather than snapped.

The eight-year-old was completely soaked through, and he was practically shaking in fury. He'd ripped his hat from his head and was attempting to wring it dry, muttering curses the while - his hair, usually neat beneath his hat, was half soaked and sticking up as well as clinging to his fat, rosy face. Wendy couldn't help but imagine him as a drowned rat.

The thought made Wendy giggle, and when called her a bitch, asking why she was laughing like a giddy fucking schoolgirl, Wendy laughed some more. In fact, she was laughing so hard for no real reason that she laughed even harder, finding the situation - in some overview way - completely hilarious.

Cartman's face was a mirror; Wendy could tell by his expression that her fit of semi-hysterical laugher was unsettling him. Unfortunately, this only sent her into another round of uncontrollable giggles. Everything just seemed so hopelessly comical.

"Don't laugh at me, you stupid ho!" Cartman growled indignantly. Wendy could only just hear him as she howled with laugher. The girl attempted to stop, putting a hand over her mouth and trying her best to hold it in, but she couldn't contain herself. Her stomach and chest were beginning to hurt, but Wendy was too bubbly to notice. Leave it up to Cartman to instantly think you're insulting him. Sure, he _was _what set Wendy off, but that was beside the point.

It wasn't until he angrily kicked another puddle that Wendy stopped, sputtering as the water got in her mouth and nose. Almost without thinking Wendy retaliated, kicking water into _his _face and giggling at his astonishment. He obviously wasn't used to seeing Wendy so openly playful, and to tell the truth neither was she. Her own actions were surprising her. Wendy gasped as took a step towards her, jumping into another puddle and attacking him again.

The lardass attempted to get her back, but Wendy seemed expert in this field of battle, though she'd never fought like this. Wendy managed to jump out of Cartmen's way when he attacked with a splash or a kick, and she almost always succeeded in getting him back. This, needless to say, made Cartman horribly angry. He cursed and spouted every insulting name he could think of as he stomped on after Wendy's retreating purple form.

Wendy's laughter was easing, but she didn't notice when she skipped into the street, luring him after her. Cartman growled, jumped and landed in a particularly large puddle, which ended up soaking them both horribly. For a second the two children just stared at each other. For the first time in her life, Wendy really wondered how Cartman was feeling about this, about _her_. As much as Wendy hated Cartman – and truly she did – the girl had always been somewhat intrigued by him. Maybe it was because he was so awful and Wendy just couldn't believe one person could be _that _evil. Even when got his way it was never enough - he had to rub it in someone's face. The boy just wouldn't stop.

What was it that made Eric what he was?

After another second of staring, Eric let out a tiny laugh. It wasn't much more than a chuckle, really, and it sounded a lot like a cough. But Wendy saw. In Eric's eyes were joy, and if only for a second, Eric wasn't Cartman anymore. He was a person.

The sound of the school bus broke them both of their struper, and the two of them quickly ran out of the road. Wendy scooped up her damp binder and almost shyly glanced over at Eric. The boy had slung his backpack over his shoulder and was staring at the ground, red-faced and muttering. Wendy sighed, pushing her hair back and trying to tidy up her coat. She blushed. Wendy realized she must have looked insane, laughing so uncontrollably like that. The girl hugged her binder to her chest and watched as the dirty, yellow bus stopped in front of them.

Surprisingly, Eric didn't push his way past Wendy to be first on the bus. He even _waited _for Wendy to get on - she'd been frozen in place, too shocked to do much of anything. It wasn't until the bus driver told her to get on the damn bus that Wendy finally climbed aboard.

Wendy's eyes scanned the bus for a seat. On a regular day, Wendy would have been on the bus first, but with Eric's stop being last, everyone was already in their seats. In the front were Stan and Kyle, with Kenny and Butters behind them. Usually Kenny sat with Eric, but on days when the parka wearing blond was too angry to tolerate Eric, he would fish Butters to take his place. Not that the smaller blond minded. He was usually forced to sit in the rear of the bus, either with Christophe or Damien.

Near the back sat Craig's group. While Token sat with Clyde, the latter being asleep and snoring, Craig sat in front of them with a twitchy Tweek. The paranoid blond kept jittering and spouting conspiracy theories, but Craig just rolled his eyes and told the boy to drink some coffee from his thermos.

Every other seat was full except for two - one empty seat sat before Bebe and Red. The two girls waved Wendy over, and the raven haired girl sat down by the isle. Predictably, the only other free spot besides the one next to Wendy was in the back, and Wendy was pretty sure Eric hated Damien's guts. The bus jerked back to life, but Eric hadn't moved.

"Butters, get outta my seat," Cartman whined, glaring down at Butters, who was rubbing his fingers together nervously. "Oh gosh, well, I'm sorry Cartman..." Butters made to stand, but Kenny pulled him back down. "What the Hell Kenneh! Get Butters out of my seat!"

"Leave the kid alone, Cartman," said Stan, his voice bored. Wendy smiled. She thought it was cute how Stan defended Butters yet did it so idly. Kyle sat up and turned in his seat. "Yeah Cartman. It isn't his fault - you shouldn't have called Kenny a pill-gulping poor-as-shit gangbanger yesterday."

"Shuddup ya stupid Jew!"

"Get out of my face, Fatass!"

"Don't call me fat!"

"Just find another seat and shut up," Craig called from the back. Eric huffed but only glared at Butters and turned to look for another seat. But everyone was either full or pretending not to notice the boy as he clenched Kenny's seat to steady himself as the bus turned.

For a second and only a second, some kind of emotion flashed across Eric's face. Wendy thought it looked like uncertainty or maybe anger. Or hurt. For half a second Eric was himself again, and Wendy suddenly wondered why no one ever bothered to give Eric a real chance. Maybe it was because no one saw him as a person anymore. They never bothered to try and bring out his better nature because they thought he didn't have one. It made Wendy sad. That wasn't fair, even to Eric. Just because no one wanted to look at him didn't mean there was nothing to see.

Wendy had seen, she thought. And the girl suddenly realized she'd stopped referring to him as Cartman.

Wendy put her binder on her lap and slowly slid over to the window, refusing to take her eyes off of Eric's shaky form. For a second their eyes met and locked, and Wendy moved her hand. She patted the seat beside her; she thought she felt eyes on her but chose to ignore any stares. She turned to look at the window and left Eric to his choice.

The rain was so light she could barely see it hit the window. Through the water, Wendy saw that the bus was doubling back, going towards Eric's stop and to the school. She saw the sign and she saw the stupid, boring tree. Wendy frowned. She would have to apologize to that tree. Though it was a childish notion, Wendy felt as if she'd offended it in some way.

Wendy's right side tilted. Eric was muttering something along the lines of, "Stupid bitch..." beneath his breath, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. Wendy could see his broken reflection glancing at her uncertainly. She wanted to giggle at his nerves but decided not to give him something to comment on. He might think she was trying to trick him.

As they passed the stop, Wendy noticed something on the tree. She leaned back, but they were going just a bit too fast for her to register. It looked like someone had carved something on the side - a circle or maybe even a heart, with some kind of line going through it.

Wendy wondered why she hadn't noticed it before.

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**I hope I captured the characters well enough, mostly Cartman. I'm a very tolerant person, so doing his character is difficult... It was fun thinking of insults for Kenny, though.**

**Re-reading this I realized that Wendy only had one actual line, and she doesn't even finish it! I wonder how that happened... Anyways, review if you liked it! If you didn't... well then I'm sorry. The door is over there *points to door***


End file.
